Calendar of Events
Note: Meetings are usually held on the second Sunday of each month, September through May, from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. Currently we are meeting via Zoom, but in-person meetings are held at the Bethesda-Chevy Chase Services Center, 4805 Edgemoor Lane, Bethesda, Maryland, and occasionally at other venues. The meetings are open to anyone. However, certain meetings may require a fee.
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A Sephardic Taste of History: How Sephardi and Jews, Food, and Spain Reflect the Culinary Heritage of the Jews of Spain and the Diaspora
February 12, 2023 @ 2:00 pm - 4:00 pm
TALK DESCRIPTION
Dr. Piñer’s talk explores the Jewish cuisine that originated and developed in Spain. It is a scholarly exploration of Sephardi cuisine that touches on the origins of recipes and their cultural importance as well as on their apparent disappearance as a result of religious persecution. It reveals links to antisemitism throughout history. Her research is the result of a doctoral thesis on medieval history. Steeped in the history of the Sephardic Jews and their Diaspora, she has also assembled over fifty culturally significant recipes collected from diverse sources such as medieval cookbooks and Inquisition trials from the thirteenth century onwards that were written in several languages. The academic book presents a deep investigation mostly based on the oldest medieval Spanish cookbook that contains explicitly Jewish recipes. Her cookbook offers an easier way to understand the culinary heritage of the Jews of Spain and the Diaspora through chosen recipes mentioned in different kinds of sources.
Hélène Jawhara Piñer is a Ph.D. in Medieval History and the History of Food, and she is also a Sephardic Chef. She has lectured at Bar-Ilan University, the Casa de Velásquez of Madrid, and the Weitzman Museum of Philadelphia. Hélène hosted one of the most popular sessions of the Great Big Jewish Food Fest. She
has published articles in The Forward, Table Magazine, Hadassah Magazine, Tablet Magazine, and Moment Magazine. Hélène has received awards from the Broome and Allen Fellowship of the American Sephardi Federation (ASF) in 2018 and the David Gitlitz Emerging Scholar Prize of the Society for Crypto-Judaic Studies in 2021. She was the Sephardic chef of the monthly culinary show, “Sephardic Culinary History with chef and scholar Hélène Jawhara Piñer,” organized by ASF. Her cookbook, Sephardi: Cooking the History. Recipes of the Jews of Spain and the Diaspora, from the 13th century to Today, has been highlighted by the Los Angeles Times, El País and the Jewish Book Council and was also translated in Spanish (Sefardí. Cocinar la Historia). Hélène also wrote an academic book, Jews, Food, and Spain. The Oldest Medieval Spanish Cookbook and the Sephardic Culinary Heritage.” She is the winner of the 2021 Gourmand World Cookbook Awards Prize for Best Jewish Cuisine Book for Sephardi.